Getting the Leo birthday ice cream cake ready!Since "I'm not made of money!," I passed on the $30 size and went with the smaller $20 one which left us with alot less room for the personalized icing lettering.His sister Kieran had her heart set on "Happy Birthday Leo, You're Adopted!," but since that wouldn't fit we compromised on my (not too inspired) choice of "Leo #1" and abbreviated hers to "Y.A."We'll just have to explain it to him.The initials AND the adoption.

While hanging out with friends in the far off exotic land of Aurora, Illinois, beside the usual hi-jinks of thrift stores, mexican food and sucker punching the elderly, we stopped at "Kid's Heaven," a party store jam-packed with knick knacks and paddy whacks. It fact, it might remind you of toy/candy stores you hung out at as a kid, mainly because all the merchandise is from the 80's and 90's. I assume they backed up the truck at a long forgotten storage locker/warehouse and stocked the shelves with all that booty, which, as long as you don't eat any of the candy, ("Hey fellers, I don't feel so good no more!" "Mitch, did you happen to notice the expiration on the 7 Milky Way bars you ate?") was good news.I stocked up on supplies for son Leo's birthday, party invites from Batman and Robin and Jurassic Park, Power Ranger paper plates and pinata stuffing trinkets, superballs, 100 finger puppets, keychains and more. In fact, $72 worth. But make sure to bring cash money because they don't take credit cards. After 20 minutes of ringing up my selections I found this out. And my offer of all the currency I had, $52, was rejected. Goodbye Power Ranger paper plates. We hardly knew ye!One clue that much of the merchandise was pre-1986 was my crown jewel acquisition of the Challenger space shuttle pinata.I don't think kids with baseball bats beating it out of the sky until it explodes is in bad taste.I do have a little common sense after all.I did pass on purchasing the twin tower pinata!

Joseph Allen Black, the man behind (and in front of, in the middle, and on every page) "Mitch O'Connell, the Worlds Best Artist,"the graphic designer to the stars, has uploaded the brand-spanking new, bells and whistles jammed, one stop shop for ALL your layout, design, visual needs!Let me put it this way, if I'm taking time out of my very important "talking about myself" schedule to make a recommendation, you just KNOW it has to be AMAZING!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Yes, masterpieces from Da Vinici to Michelangelo have been destroyed by floods, fire and war throughout the years, but the most gut-wrencing kick in the balls that the Arts have ever received is The Lost Hanna Barbera Paintings of Mitch O'Connell!

These were commissioned by Warner Bros back in 2004 with the plans of merchandising 'em to the hilt, but instead, put in the vault to collect dust.But now, for the first time ever, opened for you to gaze upon!